Paul's Torterra/History
Torterra, while still a Turtwig, first became partners with Paul when he started out as a Pokémon Trainer. Whilst both young and inexperienced, Paul and Turtwig experienced Reggie's battle against at the Battle Pyramid, taking Reggie's loss to heart and striving to become better. Traveling through the Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto regions, Turtwig competed in each of the region's league conferences and evolved into Torterra at some point during these adventures. It made its first anime appearance in Top-Down Training! where it was used in a battle against Cynthia's Garchomp. Quickly launching a powerful attack, Torterra was initially able to bring the Mach Pokémon to its knees. This was followed up by a tremendous ; however, Garchomp proved too powerful for Torterra and was able to withstand the attack with its fins. Garchomp then knocked out Torterra with a single to the head. It was treated to a recovery by Nurse Joy and Cynthia commented on how powerful Torterra was. It also appeared in Glory Blaze, helping Paul's brutal training of . It fired for Chimchar to dodge, followed by a which trapped and badly injured Chimchar. In Smells Like Team Spirit! it was used in the semi-finals of the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition. It was paired off with Ash's Staravia and was up against Brock's Croagunk and Holly's . Paul showed total disregard for Ash, ordering Torterra to blast Farfetch'd with Hyper Beam, not caring that Staravia was hit as well. With Farfetch'd out, Croagunk challenged Torterra and managed to damage it with a powerful Brick Break to the head, similar to its battle against Garchomp. Before Croagunk could follow up, Torterra recharged and hit Croagunk with Leaf Storm, winning the round single-handedly. Torterra appeared again in Aiding the Enemy! where it saw the battle between Ash's Turtwig and Paul's Honchkrow. It also witnessed the evolution of Turtwig and its loss of speed. Later on, it used Frenzy Plant against Paul's Weavile in a practice battle to improve Torterra's reflexes; however, it remained distracted by Ash's Grotle who was in the Pokémon Center at the time. While Ash's Grotle was training to become faster, Torterra came forwards on its own to show it that a Pokémon could still be powerful by coping with its lack of speed with strong defense. To prove this, it battled Ash's Gliscor in a practice match. After teaching this, Torterra returned to Paul's camp. Paul, while curious as to where Torterra had gone, did not push the issue. It appeared again during Ash and Paul's Full Battle in Pedal to the Mettle! and was Paul's first choice of Pokémon. Ash substituted for , who used and its ability to fly to dodge Giga Drain. However, Paul and Torterra used Frenzy Plant to lull Gliscor into a false sense of security and when Ash continued to attack at close range, Torterra ed Gliscor's tail and used Giga Drain to sap energy to recover. However, Gliscor used to injure Torterra, and was recalled by Ash. went up against the disadvantaged and tired Torterra, but it became aware that Paul predicted this and Torterra hit with a super-effective before Paul recalled it. In Evolving Strategies!, it fought against Ash's Chimchar, where it was shown to control its at will to mow down its faster opponents. It was by and managed to absorb Chimchar's Flamethrower, forcing Ash to retreat for Gliscor again. However, Paul does not toy with Gliscor this time and it is knocked out with a single . Ash deliberated and chose to send out , but Torterra was recalled and not used for the rest of the battle. It appeared again in Battling a Thaw in Relations! at Reggie's house, along with Paul's Weavile, , and . It was unhappy to hear that Paul had lost.